Tuesday, 10 December 2013

just a short post to say I am alive and well if a little lacking in mojo. I don't know whats wrong with me, maybe it's what they call the winter blues but then again my last post was in June and I don't recall having to wear my winter woollies that early lol.

Any way, one of the things I have been doing is visiting the TLC blog and collecting the wonderful free digital word art and sentiments that Paulette the owner generously gives away as freebies, she also has hundreds of vintage digital images, word art and sentiments for sale and I am sure you could find something to fit your needs whatever the occasion.

This week she has this gorgeous Christmas canvas she has made using one of her Christmas word art designs, as blog candy.

There are a few different ways you are able to take part for a chance to win, so pop along toTLC Blog Candy Give-away have a look around, pick up a freebie, take a look at her lovely canvas and enter the give-away. Fingers crossed everyone.

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

It's Wednesday and that means WOYWW which, I'm sure you are dying to know, stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday'. If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blogStamping-Ground for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello peeps,
Hope everyone is tickety boo and enjoying ( if you are lucky enough ) the spells of sunshine that some parts of the country have been having. Here in Yorkshire we have had some wet, dull and very humid days and nights. I can't seem to cope with the humidity these days, think it's an age thing, I feel really drained and am not sleeping too well, the saying "limp as a wet lettuce" springs to mind. lol
Any way I have managed to be productive this week, even though I managed to nod off sat at my desk, adding a stiff neck and a wet shoulder ( bet that was a pretty picture... NOT! ) to my woes.
So to the desk, I have taken pictures to the left, front and right for your perusal lol

Left side

This 'stuff' was on the front of my desk as I had been making a tag and card for a belated Birthday gift for my friend and I had to move it out of the way to take the pic of the tag.

Front

Glitter, glitter everywhere lol, I like how using the lace for the background turned out, will be using that technique again. The technique on the dress form was to use double sided sticky tape a mask and glitter. I didn't have a mask so improvised by sticking the ds sticky tape to the right side of the dress form, used an embossing folder to get the pattern, then used my craft knife to gently cut round each swirl to enable me to add the gold glitter first then peeled off the rest of the backing to add the purple glitter. Way too long and fiddly !! Guess what has risen to the top of my 'neeeed' list? yep a stencil or mask, it's a must for this technique me thinks.

The sentiments are from a great site called Create with tlc, here go check it out if your looking for wordart, sentiments, vintage images and freebies.

Right

These two gorgeous teddies are Eden on the left and Dorothy on the right and are my daughters birthday present from her dad, wrapped and little finger spring to mind. lol Little did we know when we bought her a teddy for her first Christmas it would lead to a passion that grew with her. They are adorable though, Happy soon to be 26th Birthday Katie x

I received another two ATC's

Left is from Julia @ http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/
Right is from Kay @ http://505whimsygirl.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you for your lovely Happy mail ladies x
I have another two yet to arrive so look forward to those popping through the letter box soon.
Have a great WOYWWednesday and thank you for paying me a visit today
Happy art making
Hugs to all
Lottie x

Wednesday, 12 June 2013

It's Wednesday and that means WOYWW which, I'm sure you are dying to know, stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday'. If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blogStamping-Ground for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello peeps.
Hope everyone is getting back into the swing of things after the ATC extravaganza? I still have some ATC's to arrive yet, though I have received 3 more since last week, see pic below. Thank you Toni love how you cut the WOYWW letters, I have shied away from getting those small letter stamps as they are hard to line up, why didn't I think of this derr, thank you also for the extra goodies you sent. Thank you Christine love the back ground, of course, as it's purple! and thank you Ali, flowers and Zen-tangles, perfect.

This week I have been having a shuffle round in my craft room trying to make it look tidier and create a bit more room for new stuff !! Alas I am fighting a losing battle, so not too much going on on my desk at the mo. Last weekend I bought one of the X-Cut alphabet dies and have frustratingly been trying to get it to cut, hence the Cuttlebug and Big Shot on my desk. I had to google for info, and found it is a common problem but the suggestions didn't work for me. I have now managed to work out a recipe that works in my Big Shot, big thank you to Anne ( Bollyanne ) for your help and info. Also on my desk are a couple of pieces of card that I'm trying a background technique on (wish they would hurry up and dry). There is also a nude tag on my mini easel waiting for inspiration to strike lol, a dress form die cut, cut from packaging, loved the colour and too nice to throw away, what was I saying about creating 'more room' lol, and a storage tower containing the newly cut alphabet.

I am posting this late Wed evening so will start my desk hopping tomorrow, see you then.
Happy Art Making
Hugs
Lottie x

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

It's Wednesday and that means WOYWW which, I'm sure you are dying to know, stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday'. If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blogStamping-Ground for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello peeps,

Goodness, how quick this week has gone, we are round to Wednesday and WOYWW once again. I hope everyone enjoyed the WOYWW4 birthday and has or is waiting to receive their ATC's. I have received three lovely mini works of art so far, so I thought I would share these and some pictures of the mini friend quote album, with you today.

Thank you so much ladies love them all, it was so nice to receive your 'Happy Mail'

Here are the pics of the mini quote album I made for my friends birthday, there are quite a few but you can whizz through them lol

I met my friend for coffee and gave her this gift with a box of chocs, which she said thank you for, but she didn't open it and I still haven't heard anything from her so don't know whether she liked it or not! Oh dear, wish I had friends who shared my love of crafts.

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

WOYWW stands for 'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday' If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other like minded (nosey) people. This week is WOYWW 4th anniversary and Julia has organised an ATC swap for those that would like to participate, if you would like to join in the fun hop on over to Julia's
blog Stamping-Ground for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello peeps,
Happy WOYWW 4th birthday to all.
Last week I had several comments about making blending blocks from my wood mounted stamps and Bridget Larsen asked for some close ups, so I have taken some photos to show how I, and with a bit of cutting and sanding from hubby ( don't think he thought cutting and sanding 36 blocks was a "bit") made them.
I daren't tell him I will need another twelve blocks if (when) I finally get the full set of DI.
So here are the pics for WOYWW4
Sorry Julia this is a long post, if you have popped in to visit me, you can just look at the first pic then leave lol

Jaspers says he thinks there is a stowaway in among the blending blocks box (easy for you to say) lol

Yes there is definitely something hiding in here!

Better get down to business
I chose the largest stamps to use, thinking they would be easier to cut and I would get more blocks out of them.

First of all, if possible remove the picture film from the top of the stamp and save it, in some cases I couldn't get it off so hubby sanded it off for me.

Sometimes the rubber stamp comes away easily, but if it doesn't, pop the whole stamp in the microwave. I did this stamp which is 4.1/2 x 3.1/2 for about 30 seconds in a 700 watt oven, so adjust the time for the size of stamp. Be careful if you leave it in too long the wood will start to burn! You should now be able to peel the rubber stamp with its foam backing from the block and if you want you can stick the picture film that you saved, onto the wrong side of the rubber stamp.You would need to spray a temporary adhesive to this to use the stamp with an acrylic block.

I then used a sticky remover spray to clean the wooden block of the sticky residue.

Hubby then cut up the block and got six smaller blocks which were sanded to get rid of any rough edges. I wanted them to be the same size as my Tim Holtz blender tool but you could make them whatever size you like.

Next I experimented with attaching the Velcro. The block on the left has the double sided foam tape stuck to the block then the Velcro stuck on top in two pieces as it is narrower than the block. I really liked this and it worked great until I pulled the blending pad off, and the Velcro came with it. The double sided foam tape is super sticky and I cannot get it off the block but it doesn't stick to the Velcro too well which will be a nuisance when I need to change the pad.
The block on the right has the Velcro stuck on in one strip just as it is with Pinflair glue gel. Brilliant! great hold, the blending pad sticks well and it doesn't seem to make a difference that there is no padding or that the Velcro is slightly narrower., and it stays put when pulling the pad off.

In this pic I have cut a couple of pieces from a sheet of the Ranger blending foam and used the glue gel to stick some Velcro on the back, these work on the blocks too, though I do prefer the Tim Holtz pads.as shown on the finished blocks on the right. As I mentioned before I am not bothered about a handle as I prefer to hold just the block anyway.
Up to now I own only one Timmy blending tool and it is so frustrating having to keep swapping the pads, so I am pleased with the results and that I now have a blending tool for each of my DI and it's only cost me £3 for the Velcro, also they all fit into one A4 size plastic storage box.

I hope you have managed to make sense of my ramblings and that this may have been some help.
I would love to swap ATC's so if you are interested please let me know and we can exchange details.
Have a great day desk hopping
Happy art making
Hugs
Lottie x

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

It's Wednesday and that means WOYWW which, I'm sure you are dying to know, stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday'. If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blogStamping-Ground for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello peeps,
Hope everyone is A OK! I am very late posting today, where does the time/days go? Ah well better late than never as they say. So on my desk are the tags I've made for the friend Quote mini (yes I know I should have had it finished by now) though the deadline is the 30th and I have been making ATC's for the anniversary swap soooo. At the back of my desk are some stamps I have been playing with. The plastic box full of wooden blocks are my new blending tools, I removed the rubber from some of my wood mounted stamps and got hubby to cut them into Timmy sized blocks and once I've attached Velcro I will have a block for each of my distress inks, Yippee! I'm not bothered about a handle as I just hold the block anyway. The First Edition papers are ready to make the pockets for the tags.
So not too much going on on my desk, but I am off to have a hop about and see what's going on your desk.

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

It's Wednesday and that means WOYWW which, I'm sure you are dying to know, stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday'. If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blogStamping-Ground for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello peeps,

At last I've managed to finish the mini quote album, though you might remember if you visited me last time that I've used different paper, and it's for my daughter instead of friend. I decided after hitting lots of snags (ok making lots of boo boo's) that maybe I should make a practice one first. The main problem I had apart from the daft mistakes I made, was the paper splitting on the outside edges of the spine, I had to add the lace to cover the splits. Hopefully I can now make my friends mini without the mistakes, and if any one has any tips on how to prevent the paper splitting I would be grateful.

Yay ! you made it to the end lol. Hope you have a great day desk hopping.
Happy Art Making
Hugs
Lottie

Wednesday, 24 April 2013

It's Wednesday and that means WOYWW which, I'm sure you are dying to know, stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday'. If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blogStamping-Ground for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello peeps,

Having missed the last couple of weeks while in Scotland I thought I had better make the effort to join in WOYWW this week and catch up on some work desks.

At the moment I am making a mini "friendship quotes" tag album, for a friend's birthday, so on my desk is the TH pocket envelope die that I'm using for the album. I am undecided whether to punch a fancy edge on the top of the tags or use a die to shape them, also can't decide whether to emboss the tags or not so I'm just having a play with things really. The paper pad is First Edition Love Letters, and has some lovely papers. At the front of my desk is the hinge binding I made ready for the pockets to be attached. The scraps of paper are the friendship quotes I have collected, ready to choose from and print on the computer.

I have also been having a play with the Radiant Rain and Cosmic Shimmer sprays and made a couple of backgrounds which are still at the back of my desk.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

It's Wednesday again and that means WOYWW which, if you didn't know stands for 'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday', sooo you take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blog stamping-ground for more info.

Hello peeps,

My desk looks relatively tidy today, but you should have seen it yesterday not one inch of table top to be seen lol. I can't believe how much mess I make. I have been making a canvas/chipboard tag for a great lady on You Tube, Jennings644 who I follow. She does some great tutorials and is very inspiring to me.

On my desk is the first tag I started, but only realised after I had embossed the canvas, stuck it to the chipboard and also inked it that I had forgotten to leave a flat area for my wording ( a few choice words were uttered at this point) so I am in the process of trying to salvage it if I can. So onto tag #2, I had decided to try the double embossing technique to make the smooth area for stamping, which is fine if you have the right size die, I did not, so I thought I would cut my own aperture from chipboard how difficult could it be............ eeek ! aperture too large, too small, too high, too low, too far to the left, too far to the right, are you feeling my hopelessness yet? 'many' sheets of chipboard later I gave in and had to ask for help, thank goodness technical support was on hand, hubby comes in very handy at times lol . I am absolutely hopeless with anything technical or mathematical, and that's official, my husband says so !!!

Tag #2 Finally!!! I enjoyed making this tag and I am quite pleased how it turned out, for a first attempt, ok second attempt ! lol

Hope your day is a happy one, and enjoy a bit of desk hopping.
Thanks for visiting me today
Happy Art Making
Hugs Lottie

Wednesday, 13 March 2013

It's Wednesday again and that means WOYWW which, if you didn't know stands for 'What's On Your Work desk
Wednesday', sooo you take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots
of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people. Hop on over to Julia's
blog Stamping Ground for more info.

My desk is still fairly tidy from my sewing duties the other week though I did make a Mothers day card for my daughter, from her dog !! (I know, but we do these things don't we ?) or is it just me !!!! Anyway that is what the pink flower shape is, at the back of my desk. It was a bit like origami, you fold it and stick it, in a way that the flowers burst from the inside of the card when you open it, but folds flat when closed. Pic below, sorry about the quality, it was 2am Saturday night by the time I took them (as you might guess) I am a last minute person.

My MD presents from my daughter is the HUMUNGUS Lucky Eight Doily punch, and lovely 'Mum' photo album. I was well chuffed, thank you Katie, love you ! I also received an E card from my son who is in Australia love you too Oliver, miss you !

I love the Postman too, as today he delivered my order from Cuddly Buddly Crafts, 6 tubs of loveliness aka Viva 3D stamp paint, can't wait to have a play with these tubs of loveliness, and the TH dots stamp (half price). The other bits, vials, bird house, chalkboard birdies, and Docrafts Chronology label plates and clock faces, I bought at the weekend from the Range (20% off) I only went in for a paint brush lol. To the left are some stamps and chipboard embellishments that I had given. Finally the two wooden stamps were used for Katie's card (cleaned but not put away) yet!

So all in all I think my week is going pretty good so far, Hope yours is too x